The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present technology and may not constitute prior art.
The use of watercraft vessels for fishing in rivers and other shallow bodies of water have traditionally involved small fiberglass and aluminum rowboats. In all of these watercraft, a light, safe and readily deployable anchor has been desirable. In recent times, there has been an explosion of canoe and kayak usage on rivers, lakes, salt water flats and estuaries due to their superior maneuverability and stealthliness. Kayaks and canoes offer single operator use in exploring both fast and slow moving currents in a wide array of shallow water formations.
The significant advantage of using kayaks and canoes over other watercraft lies primarily in their ability to stalk feeding fish in their natural feeding environment. Although a recent phenomenon in the sports fishing industry, standing up in a kayak or canoe offers the angler unsurpassed advantage when compared to spotting fish while standing in these shallow water formations. Concomitant to the ability of spotting fish is the necessity to anchor the watercraft at a distance from the spotted fish by deploying and retrieving an anchor motionlessly and as quietly as possible while standing and/or sitting in the watercraft. Also, there are many designated areas that restrict or even prohibit the use of motors to propel the watercraft vessel. In these situations, kayaks, canoes and other “flat bottomed” drift boats offer the angler the best opportunity to catch fish. Other small boats often require 10 or 12 inches of water to float without scraping bottom. To make the best use of a kayak or canoe for fishing shallow water, the operator will likely benefit from fishing in very shallow water both inland and in coastal areas.
However, with kayaks, canoes and other manually propelled vessels, the operator is typically required to paddle the vessel into position before fishing can commence. Stabilization and positioning of the vessel further requires the use of the paddles, which distinctly limits the ability of the fisherperson to utilize the fishing equipment in the vessel. For some forms of fishing, for example, fly fishing in a river system, the fly fisher requires both hands to participate in the casting and line retrieval. The only option for the fisherperson to fish in a stationary position is to exit the watercraft and tie the vessel to a stationary object or to hold on to the vessel while trying to cast and retrieve the fly line. Both situations are impractical and hinders the enjoyment of fishing in these shallow waters.
Anchors need to be snag-less in a river, particularly when there is debris or vegetable covered water bottoms. Anglers typically use chain or window weights, but these are incredibly noisy, scare fish dragging on the bottom and when they touch the boat and collect sediment, refuse and aquatic vegetation. Further, these anchors use friction to hold the boat in position, so they drag for a long time before actually stopping the small watercraft vessel, and sometimes they never stop it fully, which puts the angler out of position. Anchors perform differently in different depths and current speed and therefore are unpredictable. There is no way to get a sure anchor point in all of these conditions without using an anchor of significant weight. In light boats such as kayaks, canoes, inflatable pontoon boats and drift boats, this is unacceptable as it creates a lift and drop hardship, and can cause dangerous instability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,197 to Pohlman describes a device for anchoring and operating a watercraft on a body of water. In order to operate the anchoring system, an anchoring system locking means is released requiring the release of a set screw and clamp. A pole is then placed in position and the operator must insert the locking means into a locking cup. The large diameter pole is then required to be driven into the ground. The entire process requires a plurality of steps, and requires the operator to position themselves on the edge of the vessel, creating a potential for instability. The deployment also requires a minimum of two hands and significant body movement to engage the various parts before the anchoring pole is locked into position thereby making this arrangement impossible to deploy in small watercraft vessels especially while standing up in these small unstable watercraft.
There however exists a need for an anchoring system that can be deployed simply, without excessive force or need to drive into the ground, and while the operator is seated or standing in the watercraft vessel without necessarily facing the anchor mechanism, or moving their upper body mass, to deploy or retrieve the anchoring system.